I will finish this...

The last couple entries will be coming soon. I had to start writing with a pencil and paper there at the end (pencil and paper-what are those?). I have some more pictures and video clips to add as well! Have no fear...the end is near. :)

6 people in 1 kitchen

Cooked dinner with friends last night...Spanish, English, and French were spoken during the process. There were 6 of us all in the kitchen at once...grilled cheese, tomato soup, green bean casserole, and a cookie cake. They were so much help and it was an awesome evening :)

which subtitles do we use?

Picture yourself in a room with 4 young women from 4 different parts of the world trying to watch the Wizard of Oz and deciding what language to watch it in and what subtitles should be chosen also. The 4 girls speak 3 different languages and luckily all of them know English (or rather are sufficient enough in their English reading abilities to read the English subtitles). One girl from Costa Rica, one from France, and two from the U.S.....we watched it in English with English subtitles. The story sounds like a math problem, I am a language major and the only solution I can compute from that mess of a story is that English is truly dominating the world.
Don't let all the other languages die! Learn a second language! (...Even if your second language of choice is English)

Which reminds me of a friend I met from Japan who didn't speak English and was studying abroad here and in Colombia. We spoke in Spanish...and that was the only language he was able to use here. End of that story is that he was fluent fluent fluent when he left here :)

Fonchingale de Graciela Rojas Sucre

"tengo el vicio del movimiento y la extrana locura de lo desconocido"

San Ramon "Moncho"

San Ramon or "Moncho" as the locals call it, is a little town outside of San Jose. In this town lives a friend of a friend named Yiyo. Yiyo loves living in Moncho and takes the public bus to school each way for an hour because he would rather live with his family there than in San Jose. He lives in a studio apartment above his Grandmother's house (his Grandmother's house is the most beautiful and creative pieces of art I have ever seen, it is so delicately polished like a cave in the mountains with a million different crystals and gems to look at) that overlooks the city. We went up on his balcony at about 5 in the evening when the sun was just perfect and the sky was filled with colors of rosado, amarillo, anaranjado, morado...basically a rainbow. His family owns an awesome burger joint called Bugy's which serves some killer burgers with fries on the burger. Neat little town with a really cool church in the middle of the plaza (just like all the other neat little towns haha)

the language of their love

Recently I went to visit my last gringo friend that was here in Costa Rica who wasn't staying in San Jose for his last few weeks, but instead saved his money to travel around the country that is well know for it's awesome riptides. He surfed for a few weeks in various places, Tamarindo and Malpais being his favorites until finally returning to MalPais to stay at the Calocita. He came here in August of 2009 and spent 9 months taking art classes at our school (Veritas)and was spending his very last week in a beautiful little town with some "friends from Norway". He was always sneaking off to places on the weekends and no one ever knew with whom he was traveling. The minute I arrived in MalPais I knew where and why he had been away every weekend. Her name was Maria and they couldn't communicate in either of their first languages but they got by with their Spanish. She is from Norway and was working in San Ramon in an orphanage and he studying at Veritas. They met one weekend and the rest was history. They couldn't speak Norwegian or English together, but Spanish was the language of their love.

with a little help from my friends...

I would not have been able to travel every weekend minus 2 in 5 months without the help of my local friends. It is a beautiful thing to have friends abroad. I say thank you all the time but do they really know how much it means to me? I hope that each one of them has the opportunity to come to the states in our lifetimes so that I can at least offer them the roof that I have and the food in my refrigerator and a hot shower. That is what so many people offered me along the way that helped me explore Costa Rica inside and out.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."-Mark Twain

<3

Breathing in the mountain air...

I know Monteverde more than I know San Jose. I have never written about Monteverde but have been here a handful of times. I know the mountains of Costa Rica more than I know the beaches and that is just fine with me. I am sitting here in a cabin in the woods up in the mountains with the door wide open and the fresh air rolling in and realized I better write it down before I forget. It is easy to forget a cup of tea, a composition notebook, a door wide open, Corey Smith-Simon & Garfunkel-Sarah McLachlan-REM kind of morning. I am about to start some reading homework, might lay in the hammock, might go walk around...and Lanslide by Fleetwood Mac just came on. Ahhh...perfect. This morning was breakfast of eggs, toast, salchicha, cereal, and apple juice all cooked in a little kitchen that looks like it should be outside on a campground. Beautiful. The roads to get up to Monteverde are the hardest roads I have ever traveled and I pat myself on the back every time I accomplish it. It is so worth the sweat and tears. Why can't stuff like that fit in the palm of your hand? Fresh air, mountains, hard work, sense of accomplishment...why didn't the creator make it possible to carry around things like that? It would be so nice to have that everyday and have my family and friends around all at the same time. You can find a few of those things in the towns I reside, but you can't find it all...

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

I made my host family a typical lunch that I would have eaten when I was a little girl. We were in conversation this week about what my host brothers and sisters used to eat when they were little and it sparked an idea for me. For all the food that my mama tica had cooked me over the last five months I owed her AT LEAST a nice lunch. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, green apples and green grapes, and chocolate chip cookies. It may sound simple, but to them it was so different and they loved it. I forgot to get a beverage to go along with it so we had coca-cola, they loved every bit of it. I showed them how to dip the sandwiches into the soup (highlight of the lunch). They loved the grapes and apples because those aren't typical fruits that you go and buy at the store here, they are very expensive because they are imported. Chocolate chip cookies can be found in bakeries but it is more common to buy some sort of pastry instead of a cookie...they were Betty Crocker too, yum yum... :)
Overall it was a great gift to my family, I wish I could bring them all to the states with me to try all sorts of other different foods but that isn't possible. Cooking for them was the next best thing.

Local Friends...

I was so blessed to have met so many great locals over the course of my stay here in Costa Rica. To mingle with the locals is to really know the culture you are visiting, and until you have at least examined the shoes they walk in you will never know the road they travel. Not only have I had the honor of spending time with costarricenses, but also guatemaltecos, peruanos, nicaraguenses, panemenos, mexicanos and colombianos. I am sure there are some nationalities that I have failed to mention and I apologize for that. Each friend really helped me to speak Spanish and to try and get through all the dichos (sayings) in this country.

This past weekend I celebrated Kata's birthday with her...

I wish I had more photos of all the other events...

I will try to dig some more up and post them later. :)

kind of like home...

I went to a play today and it was sort of like being at the Victoria Theater. I was awesome, it was in Spanish, and I understood it. I went with my literature class and after enjoyed an ice cream cone. It's going to be a good day :)

Los arboles mueren de pie~ de: Alejandro Casona...el es de Espana...exilio...escribio esta obra en Buenos Aires en 1949

white water raftng el rio pacuare

I basically thought that I was going canoeing the weekend I went white water rafting, I figured it wouldn't be hardcore white water rafting like the pros. I was wrong! It was so much fun and so beautiful. It was a day long trip and my whole independent group of students from the states went together. My raft was a crazy bunch of loonies with an awesome raft guide (insert name here...woops, I forgot his name)-he was a great instructor and made the whole day a lot of fun. He would shout Go and Stop when it was time to paddle and we couldn't understand him in English so we had him switch to Spanish. We stopped and climbed some rocks up to a camp ground to eat lunch and when we returned to raft we got to float through a lagoon like stream. We all got off our rafts suited in our gear and floated on our backs looking up at the sky. The lagoon we were floating in had to large boulders on either side of it very high up so the lagoon was like a cave with a tiny stream of light shining through the top. The lagoon was a greenish blue with little waterfalls spitting out of the rock...which made for a really cool and calming atmosphere. There were also little footbridges and cables with baskets going from one boulder to the other that the indigenous people still send objects and people over on at the top of the rock. It is like a little pulley system, and unfortunately we didn't see any indigenous people using the system while we were there.
The rapids on the river were really great because they were spaced out enough so that we could stop and take a dip from time to time before getting back in the raft. What a rush. White water rafting in Costa Rica. :)

Notice I am the one with the goofy faces in the very back of the raft, left hand side.

Bocas del Toro, Panama

I ventured outside Costa Rica with a group of girls for the last weekend in February to Bocas del Toro in Panama. That weekend we had an extra day off school and all piled into the school bus to go down to Panama. We were on the Caribbean side of the country and it took around 6 hours to get to where we need to be to cross the border. With as many girls as we had on the trip of course we were late getting to the border...this was not a good thing to have happen because we also were trying to make it to a ferry on time in Panama to take us to Bocas. We get near the boarder in Limon and it was flooded-time to get out of the bus and take a taxi-enter the boarder-cross a bridge-miss the ferry, take a small speed boat instead...

vale la pena-Panama was a beautiful place and we stayed on an island off of the mainland (which I later regretted, stay on the mainland!) and we had a wonderful weekend

Angela and I took a taxi boat to the mainland to have dinner Sunday night and when we went back to catch the boat...there were none...it made for an eventful night! Times like those you really learn about what you can handle and how strong you are! :) It was a great weekend...

We did get stuck on the way out of Panama because some of use did not have proof that we were actually leaving Costa Rica at some point when we returned...it is a good thing to carry a copy of your flight itinerary with you!!!!!!

Fun fact about Panama-they use U.S. currency! They paper currency is from the states and the coins are produced in Panama :)

no posts in quite some time...

I have thankfully been jotting things down over the last couple weeks in order to be able to fill in the gaps of my story here in Costa Rica. It has been a great last two months and I am now ready to close this last chapter of the story. 28 days left until I am back on U.S. soil. 5 months was long enough in some ways and in others not long enough at all.

FundaVida

FundaVida is an organization that I have been working with to teach students English in an after school program in the lower developed neighborhoods in San Jose. I just ended the first month of our classes and cannot wait to continue our progress in April and May. This opportunity has given me a whole new outlook on teaching and what it means to be a role model in the lives of others. The program is about self concept as well as learning English, I have learned so much about my own self concept while working with others it seems I am the student and they the teacher. My two colleagues will be returning to the states this weekend, and so today was a bittersweet class for them. As we climbed on the packed public bus and found our way to our "standing" seat one of our little students began chasing the bus and waving and for that moment I got chills. He like so many others greet us with hugs and kisses and send us on our way home with even more...that is more than any slap on the back progress report you get in the states for teaching your students some standardized hodgepodge.

Temblores....

Vamos a charlar mas tarde sobre temblores...cine + temblor = noche loca....builds character though.

Dos Pinos...

Dos Pinos is a manufacture of milk products here in Costa Rica, the stuff is superb. Milk in Costa Rica is a bit different than the milk in the States, which I think might have to do with the sweetness. Another fact about Costa Rica and milk: you can buy it on the shelves and bring it home! How strange? Enough preservatives to keep it safe I guess? Anyways I am enjoying a "cremoleta" from the "china" (mini super market up the street run by some wonderful Chinese folks who still cannot believe that I can understand what they are saying)...and it is wonderful! Que rica! mm mmm mmmm I am in heaven, the strawberry flavored cremoleta's are my favorite, I could eat 5 in one sitting and be able to fight the brain freeze. I love Costa Rica...

Costa Rica...a real gringa tica doesn't give up...

A real gringa tica doesn't give up...I am staying here longer than expected!!! :) I will be here until the end of May! More Spanish for me, and more English for all the awesome kids at Funda Vida!

I am learning so much, I haven't had time to write a thing...

There aren't a whole lot of recent blogs, mostly due to the fact that I am very busy learning. I am also teaching English to third graders through an organization called Funda Vida. AWESOME!

President Elect

My culture class here in the Rica took me to congress last week, and we ended up being lucky enough to meet the president elect: Laura Chinchilla. It was soooo cool! We also got to see the congress buildings which was a plus.

rain on a tin roof

Rain sticks, I need to buy some when I get home because I'm going to miss the sound of rain on the tin roof while I take an afternoon nap. It reminds me of the house I lived in when I was a little girl, it had aluminum awnings that used to make the same noise when it rained...so nice especially with a breeze blowing my curtains

write that down...

When speaking of someone´s height here in the rica we don´t use the same hand gestures as in the U.S. Instead of using a flat hand to describe how tall someone is you make a lower case r instead. A flat hand is to describe the stature of an animal such as your pet rather than that of a human. Good to know.

Fluent

I might have a new definition for fluent:
Fluent: (in a language) not needing to take out the dictionary in order to function in a spanish speaking country

that is i...

give me the newspaper here and i am not as fluent as before :)

Birthday Parties

Yesterday was the celebration of my tica sister´s birthday, her name is Marcela and she is a fashionista. It was so much fun, the whole family got together and there were about twenty of us eating in the living room for lunch together. It reminded me of my early years when my grandparents would have the whole family at their house for celebrations. It reminded me of how important it is to have family, it is great to travel but I want to have a family of my own one day and have generations of them sitting in the living room eating lunch for someone´s birthday. This experience broadens my horizons each day, and reminds me of how important the view outside my front door is at the same time. What a beutiful experience.

¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a Marcela!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!

Black Market

Today while walking down the streets of downtown San Jose I saw many vendors selling movies, CD's, jewelry, etc. from black sheets strawed out on sidewalks. They were a little flea market of sheets organized through the brick streets shouting out prices at people passing by. All of sudden they all started throwing their stuff back into bags, folding up their black sheets, some of them folding the sheets up with the items still on the sheet and running...I was so confused. At first there was confusion and then I was a bit frantic too. The faces of the people were so convincing of danger until my friend pointed out the policemen walking through the crowd. The black market is illegal and this small town girl had never seen anything like this before. I hate having to admit that Dayton isn't as big as I make it seem. Ugh

feeling guilty about the lack of blogs lately...

“Do what you love, love what you do, and deliver more than you promise.”
-Harvey McKay

I am very busy! Will post blogs and photos soon!

IAN DON'T FORGET....

TO TELL ME THE MAURY STORY...

Elections of Costa Rica

Costa Rica has elected their first lady president: Laura Chinchilla. Today was an exciting day in Costa Rica, the pride for the election process of today was overwhelming. I have never been to Washington D.C. during the elections, but I can only imagine after today what it might be like during such an event. People line the streets with the colored flags symbolizing their presidential candidate of choice and cars honk at the ones they like as they go by. This has been happening for a week along with flags attached to cars and election rallies. Today was so different people filled the streets last night and today and it was a big flag "showdown". The showdown was a competition to see how many flags of a certain candidate could fill a street=SO MUCH FUN! My host family took me to see the voting polls which was like a family affair. It was a huge event to get dressed and go to the election, unlike at home where the soccer mom's pencil in 5 mins to stop at the local school or library to cast their ballot. It was so neat here to see the different process...I have mixed views on the candidates and their positions for the country, but I am not from this country so I don't have a lot to say. My family took me all over the city today to see the events which I am greatly thankful for. We also had lunch at KFC today ;) Not much different from the US except the cole slaw is sooo much better (less runny) I ended the night with watching the colts lose the superbowl in an Irish pub called Stan's with many of my Unitedstasian friends. The bar had a guy play acoustic covers right after the game ended...he was the bomb. Sounds a bit like Roger Waters, but plays all kinds of stuff. He was a student here 17 years ago from Canada and he never left-he now has a wife, kids, and a great accent. What a great day.

Strange Event

I met a gentleman today who attended Wilmington University in Ohio and now teaches at Veritas...he is very interesting. I was sitting enjoying my hamburger from the hamburger stand in the sun with two friends when a man cam up and chatted about the upcoming presidential "elections" (i will soon figure out why they call it the elections (plural) rather than election?) and I jumped right in the conversation as I usually do...and we talked about that and moved on to other current world events..we then soon came upon a similarity in our lives. GOOD ole' Dayton, O-H..I-O. Breath of fresh air...he went to Wilmington U and back in the day played soccer for the "Dayton Kickers" which i didn't know still existed (or ever existed for that matter-oops)

He teaches the development of Costa Rica and an econ class here...I'm going to just go and watch on monday's he's a talker like me-can't wait.

His name is MILTON hehe, he's traveled the world, he likes to make students think...

He was sad to hear about 1. Antioch College :( 2. General Motors...he's a bit scared for us Daytonian's, my reply: they survived the damn depression, they'll survive today, tomorrow, and the next

I might have a new definition for fluent:

Fluent: (in a language) not needing to take out the dictionary in order to function in a spanish speaking country

that is i...

give me the newspaper here and i am not as fluent as before :)

Someone asked me if I was fluent in Spanish today...

am i fluent in spanish?

what is fluent?

the dictionary says a bunch of stuff about flowing and moving with grace..they give examples of walking (which I don't do well all the time) and they give examples about language (which who knows if I really do well all the time)

HERE WAS MY ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTION:

WELL...enough to watch a movie by Disney once and then want to watch it a second time to enjoy it even more...i am taking phonetics and phonology here took advanced grammar here and now ive moved on to electives like culture and conversation in spanish...so, what is fluent anyhow? define it...someone? the definition doesn't do justice for me, because im having conflicting thoughts on the word "fluent" these days...lol

BLOG MORE

I really love to blog, and yet I do not do it enough...I like to watch television in Spanish at night and I like to do my homework in Spanish, and I like to speak in Spanish and none of that involves blogging...I wish that I could telepathacally send my favorite memories to my computer so it could log it into my blog...but you see, then it wouldn't be blogging it would be logging, the fad "blogging" hasn't lived enough life for us to move onto the next fad of "logging", will someone please starting working on this invention? note to self: call a parapsychologist to advise them to begin work on logging invention: my list of things to "do" and "live" just keeps getting longer and longer I cannot possible invent a telepathic device at this time.

Skating and all...

Facebook status of the night

was supposed to meet people at the school to go skating, my host brother dropped me off at the rink instead so i wouldnt have to pay for a taxi from school to the rink. great on the wallet, but kind of a dumb idea=no one showed up!-i was the only gringa in the place- met lots of ticos, had a great time skating, was befriended by lots of little kids (mostly because i looked funny by myself, not to mention i look funny anyway) dont know what happened to everyone else but i had a great time,also, costa ricans skate like my mother (dance skating) it was so much fun to skate and dance and not be looked at funny like back in the states (my mother was born in the right era, but i think she was born in the wrong country) i saw lots of my mom tonight it tica ladies getting down lol

also note to self: i could own a skating rink and really enjoy it (could i teach and do it at the same time is the question) i think i would be an awesome skating rink owner because ive been to one in costa rica and a million in the states...i am creative, i have many ideas for it after tonight...i would make it so hip...i love to skate...i love music....and i think i could intrigue and persuade others to enjoy this as well...hmm??? there is so much to do and so little time to do it...i need to have more than just a list of things to "do" i need like a list of things to "live" :) I hope this note goes into my brain because I enjoyed it so much...

I NEED TO UPDATE AND WILL THIS WEEKEND

MY FACEBOOK STATUS FROM TONIGHT: muchas gracias JAVIER!with the
help of my awesome host brother I will now be able to explain
plasma, space, and all the jazz i didn't know an hour ago...scissors $3.00, colored pencils $6.00, posterboard $4.00, the price you pay for knowing how to explain a subject in your second language which you couldn't explain in your first language to being with: tiring, yet priceless

Forgot to post about CRASH

CRASH was a big welcome party at the school two weeks ago. It was a party for the international students to meet the tico's. It was full of food, beverages, dancing, and a dance show/drum core show. Also there was a dance contest and the first place winner won a trip to Tortuga Island or Playa de Tortuga...turtle island or beach or something...it was fun. I obviously didn't win or I would have posted sooner...good times with good people.

Elections

Elections are happening for a new president in February here in Costa Rica. This could be the first female president and everyone is very excited about elections. Tonight when my host mother go home from mass I heard loud drums and music coming from outside and there in road was a parade. A parade for "Laura" or rather in support of Laura with lots of people playing instruments, driving decorated cars, a huge drum core (which my dad would have thought was cool). It was neat...I also found out tonight that my host mom thinks Barack Obama is hott, along with Denzel Washington, and Johnny Depp.

Related topic, Costa Rica doesn't have an army, and I keep forgetting this. The country is very peaceful, yet full of crime. Gotta love it.

Piscina

Piscina (pee-see-nah) is the word for pool in Spanish. You may wonder how I learned to remember such a funny word, but wonder no more because I will briefly explain. DON'T PISS IN THE POOL= PISCINA I learned this word a long time ago and my way mnemonic. Ahh high school Spanish.

I said the word piscina a lot today.

Emily, Katlyn, and I all went to the local pool by taxi after school today. We decided all this schoolwork and no tanning was a damper on the week, so we looked into the nearest public pool. We heard it cost a dollar but we ended up not paying because when we got there we were directed to the owner. They were having swimming classes all day and were closed to the "public", but we pulled strings and said we would lay in the grass out of the way and not get in to swim but just to cool off and get right back out. The weather was perfect and only I stuck my feet in the pool once...we got to watch swim classes in Spanish, read our books, and enjoy the sun. The only lousy part was the lack of any chairs, only cement picnic tables which didn't look comfy, so we chose the ground which did have some interesting little ants. Laying on the grass thinking about how the similarities and differences of my grass and weeds at my pool compared and contrasted with that of the earth here was nice.

We ended up walking back instead of paying a taxi to drive us home, and we got the opportunity to stop at the "cheap" grocery store to stock up on sports drinks. 400 colones versus 1000 colones, which is the difference between about 90 cents and 2 dollars per bottle. When I found out why the sports drink was so cheap I sort of cringed....PALI is a grocery store name in disguise...it was really a mini wal mart....damnit Sam Waldon stay out of my vacation.

Peruvian dishes in Costa Rica

This might sound crazy. Mashed potato's (warm) spread on the bottom of a square casserole dish with a layer of tuna from a can? (prepared moist with some kind of sauce (maybe mayonnaise) ) (chilled) with a layer atop that of guacamole (chilled) , with white rice (eventually mixed together on a plate) was spectacular this evening. Every other night there is something on the table that might look strange, but tastes great. This could be my love of food talking (the only food i really hate is blue cheese), but I think my mama tica knows what is going on in the kitchen. The night before was roasted chicken with carrots and potatos and salad. Goodness gracious! Most meals are always served with white rice in this house (maybe as to fill you if you do not like whatever is served for dinner) with black beans. MMMM Every morning my host mother makes me an over easy egg, which looks and tastes different from eggs in the States. The yolk is more orange and the egg tastes saltier even without salt. We also have fresh bread that my mama picks up from the bakery every morning and fresh cut fruit. Along with squeezed orange juice...mmm. The only thing I haven't gotten used to is the lack of liquid around this place. I do not think it is custom to drink something while you are eating at dinner...I do not like that. I am afraid to offend by asking if this is a custom because all I want is a glass of milk. Lol, also milk...as far as I know is bought on a shelf lol? Another post will soon follow with answers about the milk...

I want to open a bilingual children museum in the U.S.

I went to a museum for children today in San Jose with my Spanish class and it was the most motivating experience I have had in a long time. I will be returning when I have more time in February and March. Today I had to go and do research for a presentation I am giving on a Costa Rican astronaut named Franklin Chang Diaz, and I was extremely inspired to provide this experience for other language learners. This museum had many basic words because it is geared towards children therefore making it much easier for me to understand! My Spanish teachers are smart cookies..sending us to a place where we can have fun and learn. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the universe part of the museum and there are many other parts to be discovered. Other treasures about this place are that it costs two dollars to enter and it used to be a prison (neat architecture). I am so excited to return~there will be many facebook albums posted so I can use them for reference when I teach!

I got to read about Neil Armstrong in Spanish, and see some really cool Apollo 11 artwork

I also pulled strings to enter in the part of the universe display that was closed for renovation because I am fluent enough to do that now. Loved every minute of it...

School

I actually understand what is going on, and I am almost done with my first round of classes. We have new classes every 12 weeks. I am very excited to be learning and having a good time doing it. Next up: Advanced Grammer part 2...along with my continued Phonetics and Phonology class. Woo

Pictured here is my Advanzado Uno class with Silvana my teacher for this class and Fonetica y Fonologia...SHE IS THE BOMB!

Puerto Viejo Part 2

I had the chance to go pet baby sloths, play with little monkeys and visit a save haven for animals along the shore of Caribbean or rent a bike and bike through the towns near Puerto Viejo while visiting beaches...I chose to sleep. I had to catch up there has been so much traveling involved I couldn't bear a long morning out in the sun. Since the weather had been awful the week before our group snorkeling trip was canceled, so I had the beginning of the day to rest. I did finally wake up and go exploring through the new town after getting some lunch with the group. I found an awesome ice cream/coffee hut and enjoyed some homemade mango ice cream, after an adventure at a black sand beach. I cannot describe black sand beaches~it was as if someone cut up diamonds and let the shreds rain in the sand. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. After exploring I got cleaned up for dinner and our group ate pizza in hammocks at our little hotel. We do not have a stereo or any form of music on our trips so we have been singing in large groups....we did this both nights before going out. Someone just starts singing a song and we all chime in, I enjoy my random group from the states. We have people from New York, California, a kid from Kingston in London, and girl from Canada came with us this weekend as well. It is a great group of people. We all had a new friend this weekend named Dr.Good Friend, Dr.Good Friend was a dog that followed us everywhere this weekend. There are stray dogs all over the beaches which is very similar to Peru and my friend Juan decided to befriend this strange dog that was following us home from the bar on Friday night. This dog came into our gated hotel area and stayed with us until the bus pulled out. She went to restaurants, the beach, the store, and layed right outside our rooms. It was great until the bus left and she trotted around looking confused (sticking her ears up, looking around) and we all hoped that somehow we would see her again though we knew that was childish. The last night in Puerto Viejo I saw a band that stole my heart called "Plan B"at a little outdoor bar (sort of reminded me of Ricky's little havana place from I Love Lucy) -Reggae music really soothes the soul. I had a great time sitting in a chair right in the front of the stage watching this reggae warrior bob marley look alike jam out. Right before the end of the show rain started to come down adding a new sound to the beat of the drums...it was also coming down through the cracks of the tin roof I was sitting under. I stuck out my hand and let a large downpour hit my hand like waterfall for at least a minute. It was truly the best part of the weekend and I won't forget it...I just wish i had taken more pictures-I don't even have a picture of the warrior.

Puerto Viejo

I only wish I had taken more photos of this peaceful little town, but I was living in the moment and was unable to bring myself to waste time with my camera. Puerto Viejo is a town located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica near Limon. Our group arrived in this town a week after heavy flooding so we were less than impressed with the beaches near our hotel. The sand was covered with debris from the storms, but the people in the town made up for the mess. When we arrived we hung out in the open area of our hotel that had many hammocks and places to chill-relax (chillax). It had just gotten dark and it was time to eat so we all went to a pizza place for some grub...

Class...have to finish later

Cucarachas~Bleck

It is one thing to find a cockroach when you have someone to scream with, it is another when there is no one to even help clean up the smooshed mess on the floor. Gave me the chilly willy's and now I will not be able to rest. Ugh

Euchre

On the way to Tamarindo beach last weekend (somewhere in the middle of the 8 hour bus ride through the mountains) we were stopped in traffic. Kiron or Juan pulled out a deck of cards and asked if anyone knew the game Euchre. I went nuts, jumped out of my seat and declared I would kick everyone's asses...Katlyn and I even taught Kelly how to play, it was really going well until we started moving. I was in an aisle seat turned backwards, riding throught the mountains, while looking at cards....not a great scenario. I thought I was going to yack about 5 minutes in, so we stopped playing :( I hope to continue the card playing this weekend~because Katlyn and I were winning...

No gracias Samuel Waldon

Although not as cheep as wally world, I did happen to find supermarkets last night. Katlyn and Kiron went with me to the supermercado where we stared in aww at shelves full of snacks. The last weekend at the beach we were not prepared at all for snacks or drinks and had to live like tourists, spending ridiculous amounts of money. I was so proud to buy snacks and drinks even if I had to lug it to the taxi. Kiron is from Michigan but looks like he could pass for a tican and Katlyn and I have named him our new bodygaurd so we appear to be with a tico. He is great until he opens his mouth lol JUST KIDDING, but he did say last night he would do the walking if we did the talking! Katlyn and I chowed down on a doughnut because we smelled them at a little bakery and couldn't stand it, we had to splurge. At least we didn't go to the McDonald's across the street!~ So happy to have pretzels and gatorade for the weekend! :)

Tamarinda Beach Part Two

My first time touching the pacific was at night on the beach with tons of new friends. I love the beach at night (everyone likes the beach during the day) because it has a hidden beauty. The beach during the day is very visual, at night you remember the important sounds and smells of the beach. It was nice to meet new people and hang out at the beach, we also went to a great little club called Mono. Mono had a lot of Tico's (locals) so it was very interesting to watch how ticos interact with each other in a social setting like a club. Some people are very nice, while others are...different. I enjoyed it a lot and stayed up way too late!!!! In fact it was so late that those of us who knew Spanish pretty well were stuck explaining to a lady who was staying in the hotel with her kids that some of our friends were quite drunk and we were very sorry for being so loud. She threatened to call the Police and everything calmed down~yikes. New friends: Katlyn, Erin, and I shared a room and woke up very early to eat and go to the beach. Oh what a "beach" it was waking up so early! I am very thankful we got up to get a nice, free breakfast and catch the early rays which burn the hell out of you. The beach was beautiful and had mountains to the left in the far distance and to right closer to the beach. I felt as if we were in a so called "bay" although I was corrected by many that we were just in a more secluded/surrounded area. A bay? No? Okay, fine. The day was awesome we went back and forth from the beach to our hotel pool across the way. One can only take so much sand, salt, and sun in one day. After lunch around 3 Danielle, Emily, and I went searching for a place to eat on the beach to watch the sunset. We were in the perfect part of Costa Rica to watch the sun set because it would set to the left of the "bay"/beach that I mentioned before...Down the beach we found a restaurant called Bary Restaurante which was an outdoor restaurant. All the tables and chairs were on the sand~it was beautiful. The waiters didn't believe that we were going to bring a group of at least 15 and promised us all Mojitos if we completed our mission:we came back with at least 30 people. It was a beautful event to watch the sun set and eat with friends. We had a great time and then went back to the hotel. We went to a club that night and Danielle was in the bikini contest (cause the girls got guts!) and she looked great! We also took some other Unitedstatsian friends that we met at the hotel from California, their father was with them on the trip and I think he had a great time at the club with us. Overall the weekend was great, although my friends from California bought me one too many Corona's and the bus ride home on Sunday wasn't completely awful although not smooth sailing either. We returned to San Jose 8 hours later with the skies spitting rain and I was thankful to see it here rather than at the beach. Great Weekend, this next weekend at the beach Puerto Viejo should be a great time as well!

sam waldon

i walked all over town looking for a cheap pocket calculator so i could calculate money, because the value of the dollar changes every day and i have to check the newspaper and carry a paper and pen in my pocket...when id rather have a calculator, i thought i would never say that i missed sam waldon and his walmart...but i do and i hope that this changes very soon~

directions...

people give directions here like this: go straight 200 metros and then turn left where the old firehouse used to be, walk to the house with the yellow porch swing, stop tie ur shoe, then find the nearest tico and ask for more directions...arg

Tamarinda Beach Part One

I hate bus rides. Especially 7 hr long bus rides, through the mountains, with crazy costa rican drivers, sometimes gravel roads, and people passing even while going around the mountain! (yes on the curves, bleck) The best part was bonding with people from all parts of the US and speaking a little more English than I should be speaking! :) Two bus loads of students off to the beach for a weekend of relaxation, ocean time, and a little fun. We left town Friday at 1pm after my 4hour long Spanish class which didn't go well because my energy was running on empty by the end of the week. Thank goodness my mama tica, Miriam, cooked us some spaghetti for lunch or we would have starved waiting to get to our first stop of our trip. At some point during the bus ride I played some Euchre, sitting backwards in the aisle...terrible idea. I got through two hands and was done-zo. I've grown to understand that I have motion sickness...but didn't when I was little! I awoke finding that I had drooled on my pillow (yes I brought a pillow, and yes I was envied, and yes people offered me money to use my pillow lol they know for next time to bring theirs from home!) at the first stop we made. A beautiful little restaurant off the highway was where we would eat and use facilities, just as the sun was starting to set behind the hill that the restaurant sat upon. The builing was of dark wood and had animals around it, the one animal that stuck out the most was a white horse that was roaming around on its own. I know I have never been on a horse, and still think this was the first time I even touched a horse. I felt a rush of excitement when I walked up to it because I knew I could get bitten or stepped...neither of which happened. Instead the horse smelled and licked my hand, made a horse-like noise and continued mosying round' the building. The sun was setting and the building was hot without shade, I had a coke (in a glass bottle which is very common here) and some french fries because I wanted some unitedstatsian food cooked differently! And yes, I said Unitedstatsian...if it isn't a word I will coin the term. :) The rest of the bus ride to Tamarinda was a lot of fun because my friend and I were busting out the tunes were both listening to on my ipod. No one has a stereo or ipod dock, so we had to bring the entertainment. I am hoping my wonderful father will send me a nice care package with my cheap portable dock here soon...lets keep our fingers crossed. We spent the last leg of the bus ride traveling on gravel (for around a half hour) and I was getting really sick, until I smelled the ocean! My first trip to the Pacific....I was very excited.

Cucarachas

While sitting on my bed doing homework the other evening my roommate, Erin walks in the room to ask me a question about her homework. I was trying to pay attention but quickly lost my interest in looking at more Spanish homework. As my mind was wondering so were my eyes to something moving to my left above the curtains that were blowing in the wind from a light shower outside. The words: "We are going to get up slowly and leave this room" were all I managed to mutter as my eyes were glued to the situation at hand. She looked at my face in confusion at the unusual comment I had made and saw that I wasn't looking at her- her eyes moved to the situation and all hell broke lose. I thought the object would move more if we moved too fast or made noise and when we both screamed and dashed out of the room my hypothesis was correct! We ran out to my host brother and host mother who were at the dining room table who thought the world was ending and were already out of their seats. I got out the word "insecto" and they both laughed, but when we all huddled around the door the "insecto" was moving back and forth above the windows as if we had given it a hard attack. The "cockroach" that happened to be the size of my thumb was taken care of by my host brother with some RAID and we were reassured many times that the "cucarachas" are harmless. I thought I left the cockroachs in Indiana in the big ole' college house, but nooooooo they are haunting me. Urg...very comical though at the time being~

Classes

ALL of my classes are in Spanish. Typing and facebook is my English for the day, and it is a great relaxation technique. I take advanced Spanish class Monday through Friday from 8am to 12pm and Fonetica y Fonologia (Phonetics and Phonology in Spanish) from 1-3pm on Tuesday's and Thursday's. I am really thankful to be at a level where I was able to be in all Spanish classes, but it does do a number on the brain by the end of the day. I forgot the word for tenedor (fork) the other day in English at a restaurant while chatting with one of my study abroad buddies. Honestly my brain forgets Spanish words all the time, never English words nonetheless that have anything to do with eating. I will change my 8am class each month to a more challenging class and hopefully the time slot will change as well because 8am is mighty early. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a morning person, but I have done very well not falling asleep in class each day. One of the best parts about the classes are the teachers. I have the same teacher for both classes, but have come in contact with other teachers through friends. In the advanced levels we are not allowed to speak ANY English, even when answering/asking what something means. It is like a big game of chirades, lots of hand gestures and running circles around the point. It is especially hard when describing accronyms...I'd rather spell it out (litterally) than describing something ridiculous like the IRS. Ugh!! It is good for me (sigh) I walk to school everyday, uphill both ways by the way, and I wear sandles while doing so (so I'm pretty much barefoot)~ love it. Campus is pretty much all outside, we have a roof and classrooms in a building but it is very open with breeze ways and open entrances (beautiful)

Universidad Veritas

Erin (the other student who lies at my house) and I got up really early (7am) and got ready for school. Miriam made us a big breakfast of fresh bread, fresh orange juice, and an egg over easy for me~ with fruit~ strawberries, bananas, and pineapple. She was explain to us at breakfast that her friend was going to pick us up for school...as I was trying to explain this to Eric her friend called and declined being able to give us a lift. We walked to school, only about 4 blocks and it was beautiful...the sun was coming up and everyone was busy outside either going to work or just on their way to the bakery.

Side note-Costa Rican's have to give up their privilege to drive to work once a week in order to cut down on traffic and pollution. Monday is Marcela's (my host mother's daughter) day to either walk, ride the bus, or take a taxi. She works in San Jose as an abogada (a lawyer). This car law is very different from the U.S....

Upon arriving at Veritas, Erin and I took our oral exams to be placed into our 8am-12pm Spanish classes. I tested in Advanced one and she was so nervous about her speaking ability and thought she would score poorly and she didnt! I was very proud of her as she was extremely excited~Out of 6 placements she placed on the 2nd level~ with the help of Mrs.Haney's third year Spanish notes, but none the less she was excited

We had so many orientations about safety and the culture today~ugh...I had these at ISU, and I'm over them~I also found out all the fun excursions to beaches, the rainforest, and to other parts of Costa Rica I will be traveling during the weekends...sadly Erin won't be here for a whole lot of them but I am in the University's independant group which means we have a group of 20 some odd independant students whom are traveling without an agency. >It is great because we make a lot of plans on our own, instead of living with babysitters ;)

After the orientations and such there was going to be a bus tour of San Jose after dining at a local Mexican restaurant. I politely asked the bus driver if he would wait while Erin and I went to the restroom-he said of course, and I said with quickness I will leave and return~we ran and when we returned no tour guide, and no bus. Erin and I seem like we would be those girls who get put in this situation, but luckily Luis came to the rescue! Luis is the director of the university, he has already called us out as trouble number 1 and trouble number 2 even before we got left behind. He drove us to the restaurant and made sure we got something to eat, a beer for Erin who was in desperate need of some "calming" pills after the crazy drive with Luis in his SUV to the restaurant- and then we were off to the excursion.

We walked around San Jose (downtown) it was very pretty similar to Lima, Peru except not as big. The buildings were beautiful and I can't wait to return (our neighborhood is a 5 minute bus ride away) Everything was beautiful today, I loved it...but I am so tired I can barely stay awake!

Oh and my mama tica (host mother) cleaned my room today! (I keep it extremely clean and make my bed, but we are talking she REALLY , really, really cleaned it) And dinner tonight was fresh fish covered with a special salsa con capers (I think with capers) beans and rice and brocolli salad (lettuce and brocolli together~ with milk (I figured Erin and I would need some leche to calm our (hopefully not too bad) weak stomachs from the spices... buenas noches, pura vida

Footprints

Footprints

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,

"You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during

the most trying periods of my life

there have only been one

set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most,

you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,

"The times when you have

seen only one set of footprints in the sand,

is when I carried you."

Mary Stevenson ~ I found this poem fitting since I found it on the wall here in my house in Costa Rica in Spanish "Las Huellas" and after my conversation with Rachael Johnson, my cousin who just lost her little brother Evan Bellingar. RIP Evan was only 20 years old...I wish I was home. Love to my family

mama ticas...costa rican mama's

Miriam Ariza is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and no I will not take that statement back... I was fortunate enough to be placed with the same host mother of a student whom lead me to Costa Rica. I am so happy to have a comfortable place to live. The driver of the town named Victor drove me to Miriam's on Saturday I got out of the car and was so happy and relieved to see the place where I was staying...it is so cute. I cannot describe it to do the little house justice, and no picture will be able to show the comfort of the little house. It has so many great things about it, but the people are really what make the house. I was greeted with besos y abrazos (hugs and kisses) the minute I walked through the gate. Upon entering the house I met Javier and Marcela (Miram's son and daughter) Marcela lives here all the time and Javier lives here when he travels to San Jose to work as an advetiser for a company. I also met Javier's daughters (sort of like having little sisters :) and ive never felt like that before!) Diana 12yrs and Daniella 16 yrs (who live with their mother and were visiting). I sat down and talked to my host family for a little while about my travels, my hometown, and sadly the unfortunate event that happened before I left for Rica. I to sleep the rest of the day or unpack, but my mama tica told me I would have plenty of time to do that on Sunday...so they took me to see a movie at the mall! It was fantastic, Sherlock Holmes in English with Spanish subtitles (I was hoping for the other way around) but it was great. The ride to the mall was a great view of the sunset and the beautiful montains that surround San Jose. Marcela and Javier's daughters were the ones that took me to the movie and we met up with their friends at the mall where the movie theater was. It was like some kind of international festival there because I met up with their friend that studies all around the world and her boyfriend from Germany! :) The mall was three levels, and beautiful with many shops...the one thing that was completely out of the ordinary for me was that it was partially outside. There was a breeze everywhere you went because there are permenant (open) breeze windows throughout the mall. It smelled so fresh there! The lines for the movies were also particularly different, people waited for a half hour or more to buy tickets for every showing! Someone waited in line for us ahead of time (which was peculiar, but okay in my book) so that we would have them and not have to wait. Why doesn't everyone do this? I do not know?! Why do they not pre-order tickets? I do not know!? PECULIAR and I love it! Sunday morning I had an egg just how I like it accompanied by fresh baked bread, pinapples, bananas, and fresh-yes fresh orange juice! :) My mama tica is fantastic and we talked a lot today I walked through the house exploring all the little pictures, trinkets, and books in her house. My purple bedroom with floral bedspread is the best room in the house! For dinner we had arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) fresh potato chips, salad with lemon and tomatos and a special tea with lemon...ugh I love it, and I hope my stomach holds up because it seems so good all the time-I do not want to miss a meal! I completely forgot to mention Erin, she is a student lives here too! She arrived this morning from Minnesota and will be staying for three weeks. We went walking today and found that our school is only a few blocks away...fantastic. She is struggling a bit to understand things, but I commend her greatly for taking a trip when she doesn't understand a lot of Spanish. I would not be as brave as she is! We also went to mass with Miriam, that was the only part of Costa Rica I didn't even catch 50% of...but you could probably say the same for my catholic church experience at home! I will be going every week, so I am sure it will get better and better. Everyone here still has all their christmas decorations up...even the church (my mom would hate that) it is so weird to be somewhere warm and see Christmas trees!~ I have school tomorrow and can't sleep so here are some words...really for my own record, to share with whomever would like to live a little bit of the rica. pura vida

airplane rides

Leaving family this time around was extremely difficult because of the loss of my cousin Evan. Dad, Kristen, and Jake brought me to the airport. I wore my shorts and tshirt underneath pajama pants and a robe :) I felt silly, but it was nice to hand over the warm clothes. Warm clothes feel like extra baggage...it is nice to feel free :) I tried to sleep on the plane but it was useless because there was too much going through my brain....it definitely did not feel like I was going to Costa Rica...my first stop was Philly.

The plane ride from Philly was so rough because I had not slept in many many hours...but the second I landed in Costa Rica I felt the sunshine through my tiny airplane window (I picked a window seat so I could see when I was above land rather than water) I love looking at the land from the sky because it gives you a different perspective of people, land, and the areas in which we populate.

I got off the airplane and found a few people going to my university before I headed to customs. It was funny all the things we were saying and watching out for...it was sort of like we had all read the same book of warnings and precautions and we were little international traveling robot students. I felt really bad when we got through customs and to the airport pickup because there were no signs with my new friends names on it. Stepping out into the sunshine on the pavement was the sunshine and a large tican (costa rican) man holding a sign with the name: Tara KNopp lol, I don't know if there was a preconcieved error of inflection in my last name, but I went with him anyways! I helped him look through his information and found out that my friends were where they needed to be and then we were off...to find my new home in Barrio Cordoba-Zapate la mas bonito barrio...the most beautiful little neighborhood in the world. :)